I was in hard core sales for 10+ years selling media solutions at 2win etc…
Every day was waking up and then running the checklist of who will be the next target – meeting clients (at least 3 meets a day), sending proposals, getting sign off’s, implementing the campaigns etc etc.
I KNOW what Sales is about.
Also, I have come across all kinds of Salespeople –
and more importantly the mandates they work on..
The question is:
What should REAL Sales Targets be?
Should they be something that reflects the REAL and REASONABLE situation of the market and the Company serving the market OR some insane number that ‘top management’ just dreams up?
My personal take is that the more distant the Sales Target is from reality, the more shit will begin to happen:
– Orders and sales that are of very inferior quality creep in – This typically happens when Salespeople sell to inferior clients who then never pay up!
– If ‘anyone and everyone’ is expected to be SOLD TO, then some of the Barbarians who have agreed to buy put a massive strain on the system. For example, the ‘lala’ Companies in India who buy Internet media never understand how to measure it or even appreciate it. If a lead doesn’t happen or their relative doesn’t notice the ad on the web, then the campaign is ‘dead’ for them – as if it never happened!! Such moronic client ask all kinds of weird questions that frustrate the best of team and salespeople.
– Salespeople sometimes convince buyers to buy stuff they DONT WANT. This to me is a tragedy – coz the Salesperson will MOVE ON – but the buyer will never buy from you again.
– Sales begins to EAT INTO profitability – Just in the quest to SELL – more and more ‘value adds’ get offered and that begins to eat into the real profitability of the business – so while it may appear as a SALE, there is actually a LOSS underneath it.
– Accepting UNREALISTIC SALES targets burns people out – I meet so many highly qualified, well spoken people who have just burned out… they say – ‘give me any role to play’ but sales…
– All kinds of underhand, unethical, illegal and immoral activities begin to happen when Sales Targets are Stupid.
– The government is the BEST Place to sell things coz of the corruption there – but having SOLD to the govt for a while, the Company producing and the Salesman selling are corrupted forever…. dealing with real world sales markets become impossible for them. This is a massive loss of talent and resources.
Let me conclude by saying that SALES IS GOD.
Just make sure that you pray to her in the right fashion and dont bribe her with promises you cannot keep!
****
Jayesh Gopalan
Thanks for writing about sales as at now this point i needed it most.
“SALES IS GOD”-Alok Kejriwal 🙂
@alok There are so many things to learn from you and the one thing that i have learned from you is Persistence and Passion in what you are doing 🙂
Himanshu Mody
I have never had a sales team in the company. There is always a feeling that if I keep a proper sales team the numbers would go up. But this whole idea of chasing numbers quarter on quarter etc is something that I personally do not enjoy.What is the best way to set up a sales team from scratch ?
Himanshu Mody
Venkat, I don’t like to do it the conventional way of making sales a quarter on quarter number. Nothing gives me more kick then closing a deal. The question is to build a sales team wo the disadvantages outlined by Alok.
Mahesh Ranka
People read this…. think and act for the better!!
Mahesh Khambadkone
The word sales immediately conjures images of cash transactions, and therefore sales targets often means meeting cash flow goals. But that isn’t always what a business requires.
I was working on a software product 17 years ago for planned international distribution, but because of cash flow requirements, took to selling services. Needless to say, the two were not aligned and, in hindsight, I could have been better served by spending the effort in seeking capital, if not for our product, to build a services business.
Sales targets are very important – they help you understand if your product is what the market wants, can drive production planning, and definitely drives cash flow – but know what you want to sell.
Prashant Kalantri
Himanshu, if you have after sales service people then get them into sales team and have service people under them to fill the gap in service team. You may have to help your service people in drafting sales letter, closing deals initially but i believe that it the best way to start sales dept.